Evangelion: Sins of the Father
by deer hunter
Summary: ShinjiXAsuka fic. 5 years after third impact has concluded the world has rebuilt itself with the help of NERV and its resources. But now the former Eva children are pulled back into old romance and new conflict as the shadow of a new world threat looms...
1. Hell Is Other People

I do not own Evangelion, it is entirely the property of Gainax.

This is the first story I have written in a long time so I hope everyone enjoys it. I'm a bit of a reviews addict so if you read the story and like what you see (or not) please let me know. Also If you would like to read more I would love to know that too (I am definitely encouraged to write more if I think there are people who want more)! Anyway Enjoy!

**1:HELL IS OTHER PEOPLE:1**

Shinji Ikari watched as the breasts of his girlfriend rose and fell with her breath in the dim morning light. She was strikingly beautiful. Something about the way that her dark hair cascaded over her pale shoulders, and the way that the dawn played over her face held him there in her dorm room when all he wanted to do was leave. Shinji searched around in the semi darkness for his pants, which he had discarded on the floor the previous evening. He put them back on and then grabbed a pen and a piece of paper off of her desk and wrote out a note.

_Mari,_

_I'm sorry but I can't do this anymore. You deserve so much better. _

_--S. Ikari_

It would be better to end things this way, Shinji thought. If things went farther they would just end up hurting each other. It was best not to get to close.

He left the note on her desk where she would find it and carefully opened the door that led into the dorm hall, making sure to be as silent as possible. During the sex he had managed not to imagine Mari was Asuka the best that he could. That however had been little in the way of defense.

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Misato Katsuragi checked her teeth in the rear view mirror of the rented BMW that she had gotten at the airport. She was at the right address, she was sure of it, but she was unsure of what exactly to say when she actually knocked on the door.

"Suppose I shouldn't over think it," she said to herself.

Outside of her car the German air was warm and inviting and Misato instantly recalled fond memories of her time stationed here with NERV when she had been younger. She walked swiftly up the small stairs to the townhouse listed as the address of Asuka Langley Soryu and Hikari Horaki and gave a sharp knock. She could hear the noise of someone getting up from somewhere inside and then a voice she hadn't heard in five years emanated through the blue wooden door.

"Wer ist es?"

"Um…it's Misato Katsuragi."

"Ernst Nehmen? Misato?"

The door swung open suddenly to reveal Asuka Langley Soryu, nineteen years old and clearly as stunning as ever.

"Mein Gott! I…I…I can't believe that it's really you!"

"I know. It's been a long time," Misato said.

Suddenly Asuka sprang forward and gave her former guardian a very unexpected hug. Misato was taken aback as the two of them had not parted on the greatest of terms.

"What are you doing here?" Asuka said with a skeptical look as she broke away from the embrace

"Actually I've come to offer you a summer job."

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Eiji Narita placed his teacup back onto the coffee table coaster of Kozo Fuyutski's home and spoke.

"Come on let me see it."

Fuyutski glared at the enthusiastic young JSSDF officer in front of him. He knew that Narita had had family that had worked for NERV but he had never actually met the man in person until today.

"A Military liaison at twenty-five years of age is extremely impressive Mr. Norita but I think that you still have a lot of growing up to do."

"Just let me see it," Norita said with a grin.

Fuyutski sighed, "Fine." He reached down and extended his leg to where Norita could see it and rolled up the cuff on his right pant leg to reveal a yellow and black striped bracelet. There was a small electronic device attached to it that flashed a soft red light every five seconds.

"Hey, beats the hell out of prison," Norita said.

Fuyutski smiled through his teeth, but it was true nonetheless. After the debacle of third impact had concluded and the world rebuilding process had gotten underway the Japanese government had needed a scapegoat.

"The court understands that Gendo Ikari is of primary blame here," the judge had said, "but that does not relieve you Dr. Fuyutski of the part that you had to play in all of this. However considering your huge contribution to the defense of Japan during the Angel attacks and the lack of direct evidence implicating you in the third impact plot…"

Fuyutski knew that he had managed to escape the entire thing with a highly lenient punishment. Six years of house arrest and permanent probation in Tokyo 3 certainly could have been much worse, but something about the tone of this Norita upstart irked him.

"Look Mr. Norita what exactly is it that you need from me?"

"Why the rush? You got someplace else to go?" Norita asked with another sip of his tea.

Fuyutski opened his mouth to respond but Norita waved the question away and produced a manilla folder out of the black briefcase he had brought with him. He reached into the folder and threw three large photographs onto the coffee table.

"We found that in a recently discovered synthetic Geofront in South America yesterday morning. There's NERV logos stamped all over the damn thing. 'God's in his Heaven all's right with the world' and all that nonsense. You want to tell me what the hell it is?"

Fuyutski grabbed the first photograph which showed the opening to a Geofront. The second picture was an inside shot of the facility with the NERV logo clearly visible.

The third shot was the face of an enormous half organic, half robotic looking creature.

"I have no idea," Fuyutski responded.

"You're lying."

"No."

"What if I told you that it moved yesterday? That's how we found it. Seismographs. It's waking up. Still don't know anything?"

Fuyutski looked away.

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Toji Suzuhara waved and said hello to the pretty girl that sat across from him in his American literature class at Stanford. He was still a bit embarrassed about how he tended to slur his 'R's' and 'L's' into each other, but he was getting better speaking English aloud. He was still far better with reading it.

"Okay," the professor said, "You're going to have an hour and a half to write on either the first question or the second question and then I'm done with you. Go home to your families."

Toji wasn't too nervous. He was on exchange from Tokyo 3 University and all that they really cared about was the improvement of his English skills and him having a 'strong cultural experience'. Everything was more or less like this now. The Japanese government would pay for him to go to school pretty much everywhere seeing as he was a "damaged former EVA child." Paying for school was frankly the least that they could do for what had been termed the "psychological trauma" that the government had consented for the EVA kids to be subjected too. Shinji got similar special treatment, Toji knew, and though he hadn't spoken to Asuka in over five years he was sure she was getting some version of the same deal. Toji certainly didn't have the grades or the brains to go to Stanford on his own, but there wasn't a University on the planet that would deny entry to a former EVA kid.

Toji received his copy of the test from the professor and pulled a blue pen out of a pouch in his backpack. Before he looked at the either of the two questions he scratched at the place where his prosthetic leg met his real one. It was a nervous habit he had developed long ago. He wasn't nervous about the test, it was his return to Tokyo 3 that had him nervous. He had already emailed Shinji to inform him that he would be coming home for the summer but the thought of having to see the city where he had lost the remainder of his family again was almost too much to bear. Toji hadn't realized how much resentment he felt towards the place until he had left for his year on exchange. There was a part of him, and he wasn't sure how strong, that never wanted to go back to Japan ever again.

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Shinji sat at a noodle stand while he digested his ramen as well as the email he had just received from Toji Suzuhara. He was excited to get to see his friend again, although he always felt guilty over Toji's disability. He still felt somehow responsible for the damage that Unit 01 had inflicted while under the control of the Dummy Plug System. But he truly did miss Toji, and Kensuke who he hadn't seen since he had entered the millitary. It had been at least a year or so since he had seen Misato as well, and of course there was Asuka…Shinji hadn't spoken to her since that day they had awoken on the beach after third impact ended. Shinji knew that the silence between him and Asuka, and the distance between them, physical and otherwise, was monumental. He didn't like to think about it. In fact, he tried very hard not to think about Asuka Langley Soryu at all if he could possibly avoid it.

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Hikari Horaki found herself eavesdropping on Asuka and Misato's entire conversation from the safety of the kitchen.

"So will you accept, Asuka?" Misato asked.

Hikari's curiosity drove her to take a peak around the kitchen wall to try and get a look at Asuka's expression. Misato had spent the better part of a half an hour laying out one of the most enticing job offers Hikari had ever heard. After third impact NERV's resources had been taken over by the U.N. and used to help rebuild the infrastructure of the world. Misato had been asked to remain on as operations director of the project. Now that everything had been more or less rebuilt, NERV's function was to change again. This time the organization would be used as a humanitarian operation. NERV would use its global reach to try and raise the standard of living among what remained of the earth's population, helping in any way that it could. Asuka had just been offered a paid summer internship to be a part of that. To travel all over the world assisting NERV operations.

"Asuka?" Misato repeated.

"I'll accept," she said, "On one condition. Hikari comes too."

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"It was Gendo's trump card," Fuyustki began as Norita looked on. "The Project-E that resulted in the Evangelion was only one of several projects that were being developed at GEHIRN before the success of Project-E warranted the creation of the military based NERV operation. There was another project, supposedly abandoned, called Project-S."

"Project-S?"

"That's correct. SEELE's Dead Sea scrolls offered multiple scenarios for the activation of the third impact. Project-E was eventually selected because it was the most controllable by human standards. But bits of Project-S were incorporated as well. The eventual Dummy Plug system was based on Project-S research. While the Dummy Plug system approximates the digital data of the mind and attempts to imitate the human soul in order to activate an Evangelion, Project-S went far beyond that. Before it was shut down the Project-S team was able to synthetically create an actual autonomous human soul."

"Wait. You're talking about the real thing, not just an imitation like the Dummy Plug?" Norita asked, stunned.

"That's correct. It's not quite as glamorous as I'm making it sound however. The souls that were produced were extremely rudimentary and simple, far less complex than a normal person's soul."

"In what way?"

"The human soul that we know incorporates all aspects of human personality and developmental response to some degree. They are highly complex and dynamic, an essential piece of what makes us human. The souls created from Project-S were highly primitive however, and merely relegated themselves to the most basic of human behaviors. They were beings of survival that operated on impulse."

"What do you mean basic impulse?"

Fuyutski cleared his throat. "The most basic of human impulses are of course the sins. Gluttony, Sloth, Wrath, Greed, Lust, Pride, and Envy. All of those behaviors are of course primary, base, and destructive for humans. The seven souls that were produced under Project-S all exhibited those behaviors to some degree or another."

"You said the Evangelions were selected because they were more controllable?"

"Yes. The SINs, as the Project-S souls were dubbed, were as I said totally autonomous. They were completely beyond human control once released, their only objective being to initiate third impact at any cost by acquiring the Lance of Longinus and absorbing the souls of Adam and Lilith into their bodies. The Project-S team used samples of Adam's genetic material left over from the Katsuragi second impact expedition along with Human genetic material to fill in the missing gaps. The SIN souls were then implanted into seven of those harvested bodies."

"That's possible?"

"Well no. Not exactly. The project did not go as intended. If the Evas are an example of normal controlled tissue growth to create a perfect clone of an Angel then the SINs are surely the opposite. The S-Team was never able to control the genetic growth of the specimens. They replicated and grew in a malignant way, not unlike a tumor or a cancer. They slowly grew more volatile and less controllable, and of course more powerful."

"So they were abandoned in favor of the more controllable but less powerful Evangelion?"

"That's the official story. In truth Gendo was double-dealing with the Americans. The SINs were supposedly destroyed once their malignant growth capabilities were discovered at the cellular level. But the truth is Gendo had the whole project moved to what would become a NERV branch in Nevada."

"But why?"

"He probably kept the project going in case the Japanese government or SEELE ever turned on him, which of course they eventually did. But by that point the SINs were beyond his reach."

"Why?" Norita asked.

"Because all of the project data was stored at the Nevada NERV branch. And when it disappeared into a Dirac sea the secret locations of all the SINs were lost."

"But not anymore," Norita added.

"No it would seem not."

"So there could be potentially hundreds of these samples just hidden away and growing stronger?"

"No. There are only seven. The Dead Sea Scrolls only gave enough information to create seven, there wasn't enough raw resources to make anymore than that."

"So we find all seven and destroy them before they activate," Norita said.

"It's the activation that worries me," Fuyutski said, "They can't activate on their own. If one of them is moving like you say, then someone is pulling the strings somewhere."

"That's even better. If we can smoke this mystery man out we can end this thing quickly. I have only one more question," said Norita, his tone almost excited.

"You said the SINs are compelled to initiate another potential third impact by acquiring the lance of Longinus and the souls of Adam and Lilith, all of which were recovered after the end of the third impact, yes? Where exactly do those things currently reside?"

Fuyutski smiled. "Where else? Terminal Dogma below NERV Japan."

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Asuka Langley Soryu glanced out the window of the NERV transport flying her, Hikari, and Misato back to Japan. The plane should be getting close to arriving soon, Asuka thought. Everything had ended in Germany so quickly she had barely had a chance to process the new direction her life had taken.

When they were packing up she had asked Misato if Shinji was going to be a part of the new NERV operation.

"I sent him an email and I called a few times," Misato had said, "But he never responded, not that I'm surprised. Shinji doesn't trust anyone these days, and certainly not NERV or the government."

"Thank God," Asuka had responded, "the thought that I would have to work with that moron again would have given me nightmares."

Asuka could feel herself shift in her seat as the plane changed directions and began circling around. The plane's intercom crackled to life and the pilot spoke:

"If any of you ladies care to see it Tokyo 3 is visible out the window to your left."

Asuka looked back out the window at the island of Japan. He's down there, she thought, somewhere.

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Toji Suzuhara, now off of his flight to Japan, had not yet left the airport. Part of him debated whether or not he should just get back on a plane to America, or to anywhere else. He could feel the old pain in his leg as he walked the crowded hallways of Tokyo 3 international debating whether or not to call Shinji for a ride. He pulled out his cellular phone and found Shinji's number in his address book.

"Oh come on Suzuhara," he said to himself, "Stop being a baby."

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When the plane with Misato Katsuragi landed on a military base in Tokyo 3 Eiji Norita was there to meet it. He wasted no time in telling her about the information he had learned from Fuyutski.

"I don't believe this," Misato said.

She and Norita were alone now in an empty terminal.

"Believe it."

"But NERV just got the go ahead for a world wide aid program," she protested.

"This order supercedes that. As you know you fall under the jurisdiction of the Japanese government now. NERV is to be re-retrofitted to assume its earlier defensive purpose. If what Fuyutski told me is true then we will need the help of the Evas to destroy these Project-S SIN things and the person who is behind their activation."

"This isn't possible."

"The government wants you to remain on as operations director."

"Coaching battles huh?"

"Yes," Norita said, "I'm supposed to be your contact for the government and the defense force."

"You mean you're here to hold my leash."

"Something like that."

"So what's the first order of business?" Misato asked both knowing and dreading the answer.

"I've already begun attending to it. I have people dispatched to round up Ikari and Suzuhara as we speak."

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Stay tuned for the next exciting chapter of Evangelion: Sins of the Father

**2:The Crushing March of Time:2**


	2. The Crushing March of Time

I do not own Evangelion, it is the property of Gainax.

**2:The Crushing March of Time:2**

There were two men in dark suits and dark glasses standing next to the door to Shinji Ikari's biology class. There was a part of him that didn't think they wanted to speak to him, but it was a hope that quickly evaporated as he approached. The men held out their arms to block Shinji from entering. The man on the right spoke.

"Shinji Ikari?"

"No, I'm afraid you have the wrong person."

The two men looked at each other and the right one resumed speaking.

"Mr. Ikari Major Misato Katsuragi operations director of NERV requests an audience with you."

"Requests an audience?" Shinji repeated. This definitely wasn't a social call.

"That's correct," the man said.

"I'm afraid I have to decline. I have class."

"We've already spoken to your professor," the man said.

Shinji exhaled.

"Look. Whatever this is about I don't want to be involved in any part of it."

"This is a direct order from the federal government Mr. Ikari. We said request to be polite. But you don't actually have a choice. If you wont come in willingly we will take you in by other means," the man on the left said.

That made Shinji's stomach tighten. If NERV wanted to speak with him that badly something was very wrong.

"That's not me anymore. None of it," Shinji said, desperation in his voice.

The two men said nothing.

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Eiji Norita stood in the Evangelion holding chamber deep in the recesses of NERV. As he stared up at Units 00, 01, 02, and 03. They all looked pristine. After Unit-01 was recovered from space it had received a complete restoration. The other units, rebuilt almost entirely with new parts (besides what had been recovered and the particular 'irreplaceable parts') looked polished as well. That was of course because none of the units had been piloted or even activated since they had been restored. Norita turned when he heard footsteps approaching him.

"Beautiful, aren't they?" Norita suggested to Misato.

She turned her gaze upward to Unit 01. "I can't imagine why you would think so," she said. "What about the pilots.

Norita exhaled.

"Shinji has been taken in. He's on his way. Suzuhara as well. They found him trying to board a flight back to America."

"Asuka's the only one you'll likely be able to get anywhere near an Eva," Misato said. "She'd be too embarrassed not to pilot. She lives and dies by her pride" Misato glanced over at Norita who had a smile on his face. "You know you don't seem to worried about any of this."

"No, not really. It's partly the reason that the military is requesting that you stay on here. They know the kids trust you. It's also the reason that the military wants me to get Fuyutski back onto active duty. He's experienced, he knows how to run the show. That's why I'm here, to facilitate all of this. I'm playing bad cop here I know, I bring in all the pilots but its yours and Fuyutski's job to convince them to stay. And then I start the next part of this operation."

"Which is?"

"My primary training is in Intelligence work. There are still multiple NERV branches operating around the globe, each one employing thousands. Someone is pulling the strings of this whole Project-S scenario. And if Fuyutski is right its probably an American. My job is to find him and bring him in before all of this gets out of hand."

Misato's mind flashed briefly to Kaji. Norita was about to embark on the same job that had gotten Kaji killed.

"Why are you telling me all of this?" she asked.

"So you'll understand where I'm coming from and so you'll be able to trust me. And I think you will. And that's of course why I'm not worried about the pilots, because I understand where they're coming from."

"What?"

"You were right. Asuka will pilot. Her pride won't allow her to do anything else. And I can guarantee you if Asuka pilots so will Shinji. He'll feel guilty if she's out there on her own no matter how much suffering he knows piloting will put him through. On some level Shinji loves to suffer. And Toji…Toji doesn't back down from a fight. It's not in his nature. If Shinji and Asuka both pilot there's no way he'll walk away. Plus since the loss of his leg he feels worthless. Piloting an Eva gives him a chance to be worth something again."

"You read their psychological profiles, didn't you?" Misato said.

Norita nodded. "I have full access to the pilots records…and your records."

"My records?"

"A large part of my job is, as you said, keeping the leash on you remember?"

"Oh yah well guess what," Misato fumed but Norita cut her off.

"Don't worry I didn't read them," he said.

"You…huh…what?"

"I didn't read your files," he repeated, "And I never will. You've got to be able to trust me and to respect me if we're going to be in this together. I'm going to find out who's behind all of this, I promise you."

Misato held the stare that now covered Norita's completely serious face. She suddenly realized that he looked years older than his actual age.

"I'm going to go meet with the pilots now. I hope your right about all of this," she said warily.

"I'm going to see about springing Fuyutski."

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Toji Suzuhara sat in the back of a military transport across from Shinji Ikari. Their reunion hadn't exactly gone as he had imagined it. In fact, he hadn't expected there to be one at all. The thought of having to live in Tokyo 3 again, the city where he had lost everything, had been too much. If he hadn't been apprehended by NERV he knew that currently he would be halfway over the Pacific Ocean on his way back to California. What could all this be about? He wondered.

"Whatever this is," Shinji said, "we can always walk away. We don't owe them anything. They've already taken more from us than anyone could ever repay."

"Shinji…"

"Look, Toji. Whatever is going on its bad or else they would never have forced us to go like this. But that doesn't make us obligated. They're probably going to split us up to try and convince us to pilot. But don't let them get to you. Everyone always used a bunch of psychobabble nonsense and guilt to get me to pilot but you can't listen to them. Their logic is flawed. NERV took everything from us. Both our families are gone! NERV, Project-E, the Third Impact, SEELE, they destroyed everything we loved."

Toji pulled at his leg joint, feeling the lifelessness of his prosthetic beneath his jeans.

"What if we don't have a choice Shinji?"

"You always have a choice. I know that now. You always have a choice. I let them get to me before, but not this time."

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Asuka Langley Soryu was bored. She had been sitting in a waiting room in NERV for over and hour and still hadn't been told why. Hikari had been shuttled off somewhere to learn about NERV sponsored employee housing and Asuka had been told that she was supposed to have a consultation with Misato about something important.

"Typical," she said. She put her right hand to her temple and began to massage it. Just thinking about all of the beaurocratic idiocy that used to happen when she was at NERV five years ago was starting to give her a headache. Asuka was wishing that she could have had the time to shower after the plane trip when the door she had entered from suddenly opened up and two men in dark suits escorted Toji Suzuhara and Shinji Ikari into the room.

"Sie sind ernst? Oh you have got to be kidding me."

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"Hello?"

"Dr. Fuyutski," said a voice from the cell phone.

"Yes?" It was the head of security for his compound calling.

"There's a Mr. Norita here to see you sir."

Again? Fuyutski thought.

"Alright send him up."

Fuyutski walked over to the panel of televisions that showed the grounds around his home prison. He watched as Norita made his way up the concrete path past the security checkpoint.

"Wonderful," Fuyutski said under his breath. When a sharp rap on the door issued from the entrance hall Fuyutski brought Norita into his living room.

"I'm going to cut right to the chase," Norita said before Fuyutski had the chance to speak, "I've just spent the last two hours arguing with the government to try and get you out of here on the condition that you will return to NERV."

"You did what?"

Norita laughed, "I know you can thank me later. Anyway here's the snag. I've been trying to convince them that the information you know about Ikari and NERV and all of this mess is too important for them to just keep you locked up in here. The bottom line is they're not convinced. But I know I'm right, and I very much want you to be a part of this new operation."

Fuyuski was stunned. This kid did all of that for me? He wondered. He had to admit it would be nice to get away from here, to prove his strength and prowess at NERV again.

"Alright. But what can I do?" said Fuyutski.

"I need something more," said Norita, "There must be something, you know, that's valuable enough for me to convince them to get you back to NERV."

"But I've already told you everything that I knew about Project-S."

Norita exhaled sharply in frustration. "But there must be something else."

Fuyutski sat back on his couch and closed his eyes briefly before he began to speak.

"Just simple intel wont be enough. But…"

"Yes?" Norita prodded.

"But the thing the government cares the most about is its own survival. And the more resources available to protect it the more pliable they are."

"And…"

"Well strictly speaking," Fuyutski said, "The more Evangelions you have in action the higher the chances of survival are."

"Obviously."

"And as it is now you have four Evangelions and potentially three pilots. And that's a big potentially because those kids aren't going to want to come back…"

"Fuyutski what's your point?"

Fuyutski cleared his throat. "What if I could get you a pilot for Unit-0."

"What? Who could possibly…" Norita started.

"Rei Ayanami."

"Rei Ayanami is still alive?

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He hasn't changed much, Asuka thought as she stared across the room at Shinji Ikari. Still skinny, the same hair, the same eyes, that sullen quietness to his face. But it was his face that she noticed the most. It had lost its roundness, and his jaw line had become sharp and distinct which gave it a certain cold austerity that reminded her only too much of Gendo. It was an attractive face in a sort of forgettable way, somehow fleeting like the visage of a clothes model that disappeared from the mind once you turned the page of the catalogue, Asuka thought.

Toji was a different story. The athletic body that he had used to sport so proudly five years ago had withered away into a shell of how she remembered the boy to be. His prosthetic leg was fairly obvious and Asuka pinpointed it as the probable reason for his physical deterioration. There were dark circles under his eyes like he hadn't slept for days and a certain fear to his features that she had never seen there before. It was as if something vital had been crushed out of him.

"You two look like Hell," Asuka said.

Toji smiled slightly at this, but Shinji just looked away in silence.

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Misato Katsuragi adjusted her uniform in her office mirror before she studied her complexion. I'm starting to look like my mother, she mused. Misato had been putting off speaking to the former Eva pilots, her former roommates, family even. There has been so much that has drifted between us, she thought, things left unsaid, drowned in the crushing march of time. And now I force myself back into their lives and ask of them what? To sacrifice everything again?

"It's not fair," she mumbled under her breath.

But what choice was there? She had to try. To at least try to get them to understand that she knew how much they had lost, and because of it, how many others had been protected.

"It's not fair."

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Asuka Langley Soryu looked even better than Shinji remembered, and he hated her for it. Her bright eyes, burning orange hair, flawlessly smooth skin and perfect figure. He hated her for all of it and yet wanted her all the more. But it was a dark kind of attraction, like a magnet pulling at metal only because it must. There was so much about her that hurt him to think about, so much about her that he couldn't stand…and it only seemed to feed the magnet, to make it stronger. She's such a fool, Shinji thought, she has no idea what this is going to turn into. There couldn't possibly be a bigger ego stroke for her. She'll pilot without giving it another thought. She's already forgotten what that Angel did to her mind, blocked it all out probably.

"Stupid," he muttered under his breath, "the whole damn thing."

There was a part of him that still clung to the hope that maybe this was all some awful elaborate joke, or merely some training exercise. It was a very small part.

"Asuka," Shinji said and he watched her snap to attention when he said it, "You do know what this is, don't you?"

"Oh come one Shinji. What do you think I'm stupid?"

Shinji could feel his emotions boiling inside of him.

"No. I don't think you're stupid. But I want to know Asuka…when Misato walks through that door…I want to know what you're going to say."

"It's probably just some silly test or something," Toji mumbled softly, "like a just in case thing."

"No it's not," Shinji said, "Asuka you know that it's not."

Asuka laughed. "You're such a moron Shinji. You know what I'm going to say."

"Tell me."

Asuka smirked. "Shinji if they've got us all here then there isn't anyone else they can turn to. So the answer is yes. Of course it's yes. And don't worry, if you boys need to cut and run I'm sure its nothing I can't handle alone."

And then Misato Katsuragi opened the door and entered the room and began to speak but Shinji couldn't hear her. As soon as Asuka's words had issued from her mouth he knew that he was trapped and that there was nowhere to go. There was no place that he could run to and there was no place to hide where he could escape her. No matter how much he hated Asuka Langley Soryu he knew that he could not leave her to face the future alone.

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Stay tuned for the next exciting chapter of Evangelion: Sins of the Father

**3:Rei IV, or, "The More Things Change the More They Stay the Same.":3**


	3. Rei IV, or The More Things Change

I do not own Evangelion, it is the property of Gainax.

**3:Rei IV, or "The More Things Change the More They Stay the Same":3**

"Position target in the center, pull the switch."

"Again."

"Position target in the center, pull the switch."

"Good. And again."

"Position target in the center…"

"Shinji," Misato said.

"…And pull the switch."

Shinji could feel the monotony of NERV flood him. This was how it was, how it always had been. Triggers and switches and waiting. And then one day, totally out of the blue, panic. Panic and yelling and not knowing if you were going to come back; not knowing if the Eva was feeling your pain or if you were feeling its. And then wondering if there was ever even a difference.

Over the last few days Shinji had taken to staring at the EVA in its holding chamber. He would wonder what it could feel, if it could feel anything beyond its own pain. He thought about the times that it had activated and saved him. A part of him wished that it would happen again. Another part wished it would reach out and crush him.

Ten days left.

That's what they kept saying.

"Based on seismographic evidence its movement has been steadily increasing. In Ten days it should be awake."

Awake.

Shinji wasn't always sure that he was awake. Asuka had been sleepwalking again. Shinji, Asuka, and Toji had been spending their time at NERV twenty four seven and the staff had set up a makeshift area for them to sleep in a part of the old medical ward. Asuka would get up and pace up and down the long white hallways talking gibberish to herself. Shinji would listen to her rambling and try to discern things from it, imagining that he could get inside of her somehow this way. Toji had been sleeping a lot. It was dark, dreamless, long sleep, and he would tell Shinji about it.

"It's like I'm just drifting off," he would say.

"To where?"

"I'm just exhausted. All the time. All the tests."

"It's hard," Shinji would tell him, "I know it's hard."

But he knew that it was much harder on Toji. They were trying to cram as much training into him as they possibly could as fast as they possibly could.

"What if that thing kills me?" Toji had said suddenly while eating with Shinji and Asuka, "What if it just rips my head off? Am I going to feel it? Or will I just die?"

Asuka had gotten up from the table and left. Shinji had tried to do his best to calm his friend.

"You'll be alright."

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**5 Days Left**

"You weren't supposed to bring him here," Fuyutski said, obvious annoyance in his voice.

Misato Katsuragi stood her ground. "He just needed to get out for a while. They've all been run ragged getting ready to pilot again."

Shinji glanced down at Fuytuski who was now the shorter man. "I want to see her."

"Where's Norita?" Misato asked.

"He's finishing up in America. This wasn't the easiest thing to get done you know, given the circumstances."

"Is Rei on the plane?" Shinji asked bluntly.

Fuyutski nodded. "Yes. But she's in no shape to be piloting. It's going to take some time. There's some…some technical work that needs to be attended to."

When Rei came off of the flight and stepped out onto the landing strip Shinji could hardly believe his eyes. Flashes of third impact clawed their way through his mind and he tried hard to choke them back but couldn't. Those moments had been the last that he had seen of her, giant and luminous in the sky, one with him.

It was on the train back to NERV that Shinji realized that she didn't know him.

"Lucy," Misato asked, "are you feeling alright? Can I get you anything?"

Rei would turn her pale face and stare blankly through crimson eyes.

"No thank you."

Her voice was the same void whisper that she had had as a child when Shinji had known her before. To him it felt like a lifetime ago. She did seem a bit older. She was taller, her face more defined and feminine.

"Lucy," Shinji asked, watching Rei turn, "Did you like America?"

It was Fuyutski that answered. "I think Lucy must be exhausted. I'm going to take her down to the sleeping compartment. Is that alright Lucy?"

"If that is what you wish."

When Fuyutski left with Rei Shinji stared at Misato, trying to make her uncomfortable.

"It's all going to be sorted out," Misato said.

"Oh you're going to sort _Lucy_ out?" Shinji said back, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"A new one wakes up when the old one dies," Misato said.

"I thought they were all destroyed. Ritsuko. I saw it happen, Misato, we both did."

"According to Fuytuski, Gendo didn't trust her. There was an emergency spare that was kept secretly at a branch in America. So when Rei passed during the third impact…this other one woke up in America."

"So this Lucy nonsense?"

"The equipment to restore her memory…her personality…Fuyutski says its all data that's only stored here, in NERV Japan."

Shinji scowled. "So what. He's going to erase this Lucy personality that's been living in America for five years and just paste Rei over it?"

"Shinji…"

He shook his head.

"Don't you want Rei back?" she asked.  
"Have you ever…" his voice drifted off, "never mind."

"What? Tell me. What is it?"

Shinji took a breath. "It's just…have you ever wondered what the cost of all this is?"

Misato locked his eyes in hers. "Every day."

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**3 Days Left**

They had changed out of their plug suits in the locker room over an hour before, but Toji still hadn't come out. Shinji, as always, had forced himself not to look at Asuka as she changed. He wouldn't give her the pleasure. She wanted him to look, he was sure. It was all just a game. She did it slowly, unzipping the suit and making a show of folding it. He could see out of the corner of his eyes that her bra was black and it matcher her underwear as she pulled her jeans and her tank top on. She would love to catch him looking, to yell at him and make a scene. There was no need to stroke her ego. He was, however, worried about Toji. The stress of NERV and of his last experience piloting an EVA was obviously wearing him down. Shinji went back into the locker room to check on him and sure enough he hadn't moved from the bench where Shinji had seen him last.

"You know, Misato told me that Hikari is working in some division on the surface. Some sort of P.R. thing," Toji said quietly.

Shinji could sense the fear in his friend's voice. "Oh really? That's great Toji! I'm sure she would love to see you."

Toji nodded. "Do you think she'll get to? I don't know I mean…they wouldn't let me go up there though, there's still too much to do."

"It's going to be alright Toji, you'll see her. It's just because of the fight. When we all come back we'll go up top and go out some place nice together to celebrate. Everything will be fine."

"After the fight," Toji said, his voice unsure.

"After the fight."

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Shinji didn't get out of bed until he heard her slump against the side of the corridor. He glanced at his watch. It was four thirty in the morning and Asuka had been shuffling around asleep, lost somewhere in her incoherent words. Shinji got up and exited his room into the hallway where he saw her in the near darkness sprawled on the ground next to the elevator. There was the black bra and panties again, this time contrasted sharply with the white flooring. Her hair cascaded on the floor around her and her mouth was closed except for a small seal in between her lips as if she was whistling. She had wrapped her arms across her chest and had drawn her legs up in an apparent effort to stave off the cold. But the cold had come nonetheless and she lay there shivering and looking for all the world like a goddess.

Shinji watched her silently for a time. Scenarios fell across his mind of kissing her, of taking her clothes off and kissing her and feeling her kiss him back. Feeling her want him. And of making love to her. Making love to her right there on the floor in the belly of this NERV, this place that they both hated and yet could not seem to be truly apart from.

But in the end he scooped his arms down and placed a hand beneath her knees and another under her back and lifted her up and began the walk back to her room. It was while he was pushing the door open with his back that she woke.

"Shinji?"

He glanced down at her perfect face, alive now.

"You should go back to sleep."

"What are you doing?" she asked, "Put me down."

"I'm just taking you back to bed."

"I said put me down!" Her voice rose sharply and suddenly and Shinji reluctantly lowered her feet to the floor.

"I'm sorry," Shinji said.

"For what?"

There was something in her voice that Shinji couldn't read. "I'm just sorry."

"Do you even know why?" Asuka stared up at him, her eyes livid.

Shinji studied her there below him, their difference in height now pronounced.

"Why don't you take a picture Ikari it will last longer."

"Oh come on. What do you want from me?"

"Did you touch me?" she asked.

"What?"

"Did you? When I was asleep did you touch me? Did you run your hand up my thigh? Huh? My breasts? Huh? Cop a feel?"

"No."

"Did you want to?"

Shinji looked away from her and back down the hallway towards his room.

"I'm going back to bed," he said.

"Please don't ever put your hands on me again."

"I'm just going back to bed."

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**2 Days Left**

As Toji slept he was in a cave. There was a waterfall and a pool of deep blue water. There was a naked girl there, by the waters edge. Her name was Esma and she was calling to him.

"You can have me, if you want."

"Esma…" Toji said softly.

"In the water. You can have me there."

"I'm…I'm scared."

She dove into the water, deep down to where he couldn't see her anymore and he became lonely.

"Esma…please. Come back please."

He felt overwhelmed, like life was too much without her. Toji crept to the edge of the water and then let his body fall in.

And then he was awake.

"Suzuhara." It was a voice coming over the communications channel inside of Unit-03.

"Huh? What?"

Toji glanced around to realize that he was inside of an Evangelion.

"Suzuhara," Misato said, "The Synchronization test is still going on. You need to try and stay awake."

"I'm…sorry. It wont happen again."

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"We're leaving tonight Rei."

"Ms. Misato informed me," Rei said.

Shinji pushed the food around on his plate. "You're not coming with us then?" he asked.

"Rei shook her head. "I've been feeling rather weak as of late. I can't seem to remember things the right way."

Shinji nodded. "I'm sure that will pass."

"I should like to go and help…but Ms. Misato and Fuyutski said that I needed to remain here to get better."

"I'm sure they're right," Shinji said. He couldn't stop watching her. Lucy was gone, seemingly wiped clean and forgotten. God only knew what lies Fuyutski had fed her to explain away the five missing years from her memory.

He knew that in a matter of hours he would be on a plane heading towards South America and some new unknown foe. Misato no longer told any of the pilots their synch numbers. Shinji guessed it was so as not to hurt Asuka's pride or to make any of them worry or compete with each other. All he could do now was hope that they were all strong. He couldn't stand the thought of losing either Toji or Asuka. It had been so long since he had been forced to think like that. To think that someone might not come home.

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Stay tuned for the next exciting chapter of Evangelion: Sins of the Father

**4:Lust:4**


	4. Lust

I do not own Evangelion. It is the property of Gainax.

_Sorry about the long delay between chapters, I'm sure you all know how life tends to get in the way. Anyway I should be putting up chapters more frequently from here on out so enjoy!_

**4:Lust:4**

When they arrived in Bogota the heat felt like a solid wall. Toji felt stunned by it.

"Oh…man."

"That's Columbia for you," Misato said, "Don't worry we wont be here long."

Asuka had obviously come prepared. Toji studied her frame in short shorts and a tank top, sunglasses clouding her eyes. His mind flashed briefly to their first meeting, the heat aboard the super carrier over the rainbow. Toji turned his attention to Shinji who had a solemn look on face. His expression held an echo of permanence, like it was carved from stone.

"Where to now?" Toji asked Misato.

"A temporary launch base is being set up right now a few miles south of the city. The target itself is underground a few more miles west of that. Commander Fuyutski and Mr. Norita are already there with a team."

Asuka turned. "Wait you mean that they're in there with the target? Are they crazy?"

Misato nodded. "It's safe. All the data points to activation at midnight."

Asuka shook her head, "Well you wouldn't catch me in there."

"Look I know everybody is probably jet lagged so we're going to head to the temporary launch base so you guys can get some sleep before tonight."

"But I'm not tired," Asuka protested.

"It's an order, not a suggestion."

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**10 hours remain**

"They couldn't at least have gotten us separate rooms?" Asuka whined.

"I doubt our privacy is a top priority at this point," Shinji said, annoyance in his tone.

Toji studied the small enclosure off to the side of the launch base. "Well hey at least there's three beds right?" he said, trying to laugh.

Asuka scoffed and rolled her eyes as she plopped down on the first bed. "Just shut up so I can sleep alright?"

Shinji went to the window and pulled shut the thick black out curtains. He wanted to say something to Asuka and Toji, to tell them that they were a team and that things would be okay, but words, and his belief, seemed to fail him.

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When the infantry team finally got the last door open Norita stepped out into the cavernous chamber at the center of the South American artificial geo-front.

"There it is."

In front of him was an enormous black shoulder, and towering above that a thick neck and a bizarre white oval plate where the face should have been.

"Fuyutski can you see it?" Norita asked into his microphone.

The infantryman with the camera stepped forward to get a better shot of the creature so that Fuytuski, still on the surface, could get a look.

"Yes," Fuyuytski's voice sounded into Norita's earpiece.

"It's big."

"The writing on the shoulder. What does it say?"

Norita walked around the outside of the platform to see the complete white lettering on the shoulder.

"SP-4 / ASMODEUS."

"Understood."

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**5 Hours Remain**

In Toji's dream she came to him again.

"Esma."

He could see her swimming still deeper below him. He tried to reach out to her, to call out to her, but no sound came from his lips. And then he was fading. His lungs began to burn and a darkness seeped into the edges of his eyes.

"Please, come back. Please."

And then she turned and embraced him and pulled him down further until a blinding light seemed to cover him and he was in a grotto. Toji stood there soaking wet and breathing hard, waiting for his eyes to adjust. And when they did all he could see was Shinji locked in an embrace with Esma on the smooth stone below him. She was bearing down upon him, her lips grazing across his.

And there was Asuka standing on the other side staring down at the two across from him as well. Toji watched as she squatted down and pleaded with Esma.

"Please, stop it. Just, please. I can't…I won't…"

But Esma seemed to wave her away and dismiss her. Toji watched as a sudden rage seemed to fill Asuka and she dug her fingernails into Esma's back. She screamed as she did it but Esma only seemed to smile a little as she groped at Shinji's chest.

"Please," Toji said, "Shinji…let me have Esma. Please."

And then Shinji turned his head toward Toji and spoke.

"No."

And, to Toji, in that place, there was only despair.

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"Wake Up."

Toji sat bolt upright in his bed gasping for breath. He was drenched in sweat and shoving his hands over his ears.

"What?" he choked out, "Whose there?"

**3 Hours Remain**

Shinji was putting on his plug suit when Asuka entered the changing room. There were dark circles around his eyes and his hair was a mess, like he had been tossing and turning in bed.

"Well you look even worse than normal," she said, "If that's possible."

Asuka opened the case that contained her plug suit and examined it.

"I didn't get much sleep last night," he said. "I had this really intense dream."

"Oh poor Shinji," she said as she unfolded her plug suit, "Did a monster try to get you? Hmm? Or did you wake up all wet? Eh? Dreaming about me?"

"Nevermind."

"Well someone's grouchy," Asuka said as she began to remove her clothes, "Now you better not look!"

Shinji turned to face the other direction.

"You were in my dream, actually," he said.

"Eww gross."

"You were…watching me."

"What?" Asuka's head snapped around. She had had a strange dream the previous night as well. She had been forced to watch Shinji with another woman. She tried to tell herself that she didn't care, but deep down she had hated it. Hated having to watch him, hated that he was with someone else.

"I said…"

"What happened in your dream?" Asuka said suddenly.

"I…I don't remember," Shinji stammered out, looking embarrassed.

Asuka finished tightening her plug suit and then turned around to face him.

"What do you mean you don't remember you just said _I_ was in your dream moron!"

"Ahh…It's…I remember it's just sort of embarrassing."

"Tell me."

"No."

"I promise I won't make fun of you."

"Why do you care?"

"Was it a…a sex dream?" Asuka asked, "Is that why you're embarrassed. Were you with some girl?"

Shinji stared at Asuka. How did she know?

Suddenly the door to the locker room swung open and Toji emerged looking almost as bad as Shinji.

"Sorry I'm late," Toji said, "I kept having this nightmare."

**57 Minutes Remain**

Inside of Unit-03 Toji was shaking.

"You're fine," he said to himself, "You're fine you're fine you're fine. It's okay."

He could here Misato over his comm..

"Okay our people have been completely evacuated from the artificial Geo-Front. Our estimates place activation at T-Minus 57 minutes and counting. Remember the basics. We don't really know what were going to be up against this first time out so stick to the fundamentals. Shinji and Toji stay back with the rifles, Asuka advances with the spear. The two of you cover her, and then switch to the prog knife if the thing gets in too close. We brought an N2 mine with us in case…well in case things get out of hand."

Shinji recalled Rei's suicide run with an N2 mine on an attacking angel. Can't let it get that far, he thought, can't let it slip.

"Of course it turns out that a woman yet again must do the heavy lifting," Asuka said, "Someone who can get the job done."

Shinji rolled his eyes.

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" I can feel you."

Toji snapped his head around to the left to try to pinpoint where the sound had come from.

"What? Whose there?"

Misato responded over the comm.. "Toji we're still here in command."

"No, not you," he said.

" I just can't stand it please I need you, I have to have you."

"Shinji do you hear that?"

Asuka massaged her ear. "Toji can you try not screaming into the mic?"

"Does nobody else hear that?" Toji said, exasperation in his voice.

Shinji turned inside of Unit-01 to look over at Unit-03. He's losing it, Shinji thought, this is all too much for him, the stress. And then Shinji heard it.

" I wan't you. I have to have you. Now."

Asuka's voice came through the comm. now, "What the hell?" she said, "That voice, it's that girl from my dream."

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Inside the command center Miasato turned to Fuyutski.

"What the hell is going on out there?"

Fuyutski shook his head, then Norita spoke.

"We have one scout that we left behind in the geo-front," he suggested.

Misato nodded and spoke into the comm.. "J-Twelve thirteen what's your status? What's the status on Asmodeus?"

But there was only silence.

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The attack came suddenly.

"She's there on the ground!" Toji Screamed, "The girl!"

Asuka tried to locate what Toji was yelling about when a thunderous sound echoed all around her and the great bulk of the first SIN appeared in front of her.

"Sheiss!" She tried to dodge to the left but the massive creature gripped the throat of Unit-02 and Asuka could feel herself being lifted up into the air. She screamed into the comm for someone to help and watched as she came eye to eye with the beast. There was a massive round and flat silver looking plate where a face should have been, and the plate gleamed in the sunlight over the black and red body of the almost feminine shaped creature.

"My Throat!" Asuka yelled out in pain. Suddenly she felt the force of something landing on the back of the creature. Asuka looked up to see Unit-01 standing on the creatures back and then felt the heat of Shinji's rifle firing downward into the top of the SIN's skull.

" No. We Must be...Together."

The voice seemed to be all around her as the creature let go of Unit-02's throat with one of its hands and reached up to grab Shinji by the throat as well. Asuka decided to take advantage of the loosened grip and swung her spear horizontally and up to strike the creature in its thick neck. And then again, and again.

"Toji where are you!" she yelled out.

Toji however was frozen. He watched as the SIN pulled Shinji off of its back and then slammed both Evangelions together. He could hear the screams over the comm but they sounded somehow far away. It was Misato's voice that finally roused him.

"Toji you've got to help them now!" With those words Toji began to charge with his gun firing at the right side of the SIN before he lowered his shoulder and threw all of his weight into a tackle. Toji could feel his back reel from the impact but he managed to knock the creature into a stumble as it let go of Shinji and tried to use Asuka to break it's own fall. But then with a sudden flash of red light and another thunderous crack, it was gone.

Shinji gasped as he felt oxygen flowing back into his lungs and glanced around himself to see the two other Eva's crashed among the forested battle ground.

"Where...? Misato?"

"Shinji! Asuka! Toji! Get up it's coming back!"

Shinji turned to see the creature charging toward them from what seemed like several miles away.

"How the hell did it get all the way over there?" Asuka said as she stood back up.

"It's picking up a lot of speed," Toji said. And then suddenly Toji could here Esma's voice in his head once more.

" You can have me, I'm yours."

But she wasn't just in his head now, the ghostly white girl was now straddling him in the cockpit of his Evangelion, rubbing her body up against him and touching the side of his face.

"Get the hell out!" Toji shouted, "Leave me alone!"

" Do you wan't to become one with me?" Esma whispered.

Shinji and Asuka watched aghast as Unit-03 shoved at the air around it as if it was trying to remove something invisible from an embrace.

"Toji move!" Shinji yelled.

The SIN was charging full speed right for Toji, an evil looking blade now protruding from its outstretched elbow.

"Toji get a grip!" Asuka pleaded.

"Get out of my head!" Toji wailed.

But there wasn't any time left. As the SIN neared striking distance of Toji Shinji leaped in front of him and shoved Toji away as he felt the enemies blade enter his shoulder and bear him downward into the trees. Shinji screamed as he came face to face with Asmodeus and tried to grab at his wound.

Suddenly it seemed like the beautiful girl from his dreams was lying on top of him. She caressed the side of his face and his neck and then with one swift motion tore the piece of his plug suit that covered his right arm away and began to kiss his shoulder. As Shinji felt the SIN blade pierce further into his Eva's armor he could hear Esma whisper.

" Can you feel me inside of you?" 

"Yes..." he whispered back, feeling himself give in. Esma kissed his lips and then his chest and spoke once more.

" Do you want me to take the pain away?"

Asuka could here the voice of the girl over the comm.. as it whispered to Shinji. Asuka picked her spear back up and stood over the creature where it was lying atop Unit-01 on the ground and shoved the spear downward through the back of the SIN's thigh, feeling the tip go all the way through and out the other side.

"Hows that? Now whose inside of who?" Asuka asked.

The Eva children then heard a high pitched scream in their minds and with a sound like bones cracking the SIN disappeared again, this time reappearing behind Toji. The fourth child wheeled around and dodged backward to miss a sweeping kick, but then noticed something else when he did it.

"Asuka, you're spear is still stuck in her leg. I think you hurt her."

Toji, feeling suddenly emboldened by the creatures apparent weakness, removed his prog knife from its sheath and leapt onto the SINs back where it lay on its hands on knees on the ground. Toji reared up and rammed the knife downward into the top of the creature's spine as sparks cascaded around him. Asmodeus bellowed again and stood up suddenly causing Toji to fall back. It reached out and removed the knife, studying it for a moment before throwing it at Toji. The prog knife entered into his right bicep.

"Toji!" Shinji yelled as he was finally was able to draw himself back up to his feet. "Asuka, I've got a plan, can you charge at it?"

"_You have a plan?"_ Asuka said with obvious disbelief.

"Just trust me," Shinji pleaded, "Just this once."

"...uhh mein gott."

Asuka leaped forward into a sprint heading towards the limping SIN towering over Toji. I hope Shinji knows what he's doing, she thought.

Shinji in turn unsheathed his rifle and sprinted right after Unit-02, making sure to press the muzzle of his gun into her lower back.

"Shinji! What the hell?" she said as she felt the tip of the gun. But it was too late for explanations. The SIN was holding up its right leg preparing to stamp down on the blade in Toji's arm at the moment Asuka reached it. She swung with her fist but the beast teleported once more with another ear shattering crack. But as it did this time Asuka suddenly understood Shinji's plan. Asuka could feel light explode behind her as the beast reformed itself directly at her back hoping to catch her off guard. With Shinji's gun still pointed at her back however the creature reformed itself with the muzzle of the rifle lodged firmly it its guts.

"Asuka move now!" Shinji cried out as Asuka rolled to the side and he squeezed the trigger, sending his entire clip into the innards of the beast.

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Misato Katsuragi had to turn away from her viewing screen as Shinji's bullets ejected from the chest cavity of the SIN and it crumpled, writhing, to the ground. She could hear Shinji's heavy breathing over the comm and the sound of Toji sobbing and grabbing at the blade lodged in his Eva.

"Asuka..." Misato said.

"Yah yah don't worry I got it," she said, annoyance in her voice. Asuka walked her Eva over to where Toji still lay on the ground and gripped the back of the blade. "Now don't flinch fourth child." Then with one quick pull she removed the blade and Unit-03 rolled over into the fetal position.

"Toji?" Misato said.

"Oh he'll be fine," Asuka said, "He's just in shock that's all." Then Asuka let the blade drop to the ground and the moment she did so the corpse of the SIN began to come apart like a handful of sand dropped into water, the pieces of it blowing upward in the wind. Asuka and Shinji watched as the enormous creature disappeared before their eyes, gone completely in only a matter of minutes.

"Gone..." Asuka whispered.

"No," Shinji said, walking to where the beast had finally fallen, "there's still something left."

"Shinji," Misato said, feeling frightened by the tone of his voice, "What is it?"

There was silence for a long moment before Shinji finally spoke.

"An entry plug."

Stay tuned for the next exciting chapter of Evangelion: Sins of the Father

**5:Better the Devil You Know…:5**


	5. Better The Devil You Know

I do not own Evangelion. It is the property of Gainax.

**5:Better the Devil You Know (Than the Devil You Don't):5**

Toji Suzuhara stared through the observation window of Nerv's medical holding facility as he tried to take stock of the girl held inside.

"Has she moved at all?" Shinji asked.

"Barely. She just sits there on the side of the bed and stares at the wall."

Shinji couldn't decide what to think about Esma, about the first sin. She looked human enough, but he knew that letting himself think of her that way could be dangerous. Still, Shinji felt a sadness for the creature, after all none of this was really her doing.

"Father…"

"I can't believe she was really piloting that thing," said Toji, "I mean, where did she come from?"

And, Shinji wondered, just what exactly was Nerv planning to do with her now…

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The four pilots sat within their test plugs as Misato Katsuragi and Maya Ibuki monitored their synch ratios.

"Rei's numbers are finally starting to climb," Maya said as she pecked away at her keyboard.

"Yes. Thank goodness."

Several moments of silence passed between the two women. Their friendship had grown after everything that had happened after third impact, linked by the loss of their former friend Ritsuko.

"And how are things with you, if you don't mind me asking?" Maya said suddenly, her words catching Misato off guard.

"Um, well, um…okay I guess. I don't know…I've been having trouble sleeping lately." The truth of the matter was that it wasn't just lately. Misato's insomnia had grown progressively worse ever since Ryoji Kaji had disappeared from her life. She would lay awake in bed at night and try not to see his face, or she would walk around her apartment in an attempt to tire herself out or get her mind off of him. But he was always there. No matter what she did or how hard she tried, he was, even in death, inescapable.

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Asuka Langley Soryu was furious.

"I can't believe this."

"You do have a choice," Fuyutski said calmly.

"A choice? What choice is there? We can either live like moles separately in the geo-front or live together on the surface? Are you kidding me?"

"I'll expect your answer by this afternoon," Fuyutski concluded as his elevated platform began to sink down to the central command center.

Asuka turned toward the other pilots. "This is ridiculous, I have to live with you freaks?"

"It could be worse I suppose," Shinji said.

"Bitch," mumbled Toji.

"The arrangement could be…satisfactory," Rei concluded.

"Pff…looks like even wonder-girl is on board."

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When the invasion alarm triggered Misato was speaking to Hyuga in central dogma.

"What the hell's going on?" she yelled.

"The computer says we're being invaded," Hyuga said back, "but…there's nothing on any of the monitors, the cameras are all coming up blank. The sensors too."

Fuyutski came up behind them suddenly. "Don't take any chances, get the pilots down to their Eva's. Just because we can't see it doesn't mean its not there."

"Right." Misato turned to the comm. and spoke: "Pilots to the launch bay immediately! We have a foreign body detected inside the geo-front."

"I can handle things up here Major," Fuyutski said, resting his hand on Misato's shoulder, "Make sure the pilots get where they need to be. They trust you."

"Right."

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"How much longer are we going to have to sit in here?" Asuka whined from the cockpit of unit-02.

Normally Shinji Ikari hated hearing Asuka complain, but today he was just as irritated as she was. He and the other pilots had been sitting motionless in their Evangelions for more than three hours. He could hear Toji snoring softly over the comm. and he was starting to feel like the fourth child had the right idea.

"Misato…"

"I know, I know." Misato turned to Maya. "What now. We can't just sit here forever. Maybe it was a false alarm, some error in the system."

"It's possible," Maya said, "We'll need Fuyutski's approval to return to normal status and retrieve the pilots."

Misato picked up the phone and dialed for Fuyutski in the command center.

"Commander…"

"I know, I don't like it, but…get them out of there and we'll go into the Magi and see if something went wrong."

"Understood." Misato hung up the phone and turned back to Maya. "Okay eject the plugs. Fuyutski wants you to give the Magi a check up."

Maya quickly typed the command code to eject the four entry plugs but she knew that something was wrong just as quickly. "It's not responding, the plugs won't eject."

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"What's going on?" Asuka shouted from her plug. The LCL was growing cloudy, as if the system was failing. It was starting to taste more and more like blood, it was overwhelming her and she could feel herself becoming nauseous.

"It's like I've swallowed too much blood," Toji whispered, trying to keep calm.

"Misato?" Shinji said.

"I do not like this smell," said Rei.

The comm. crackled to life, it was Misato. "There must be something wrong with the computer system. It won't let us eject the plugs and its probably causing the filtration system to slow down. Just hold on, we'll have to get you out manually."

Back in the computer room Maya was growing nervous. Ritsuko had always been there to do the major work with the Magi system, and very rarely had anything this severe occurred with the computer. Maya felt her throat tickle as she turned to sneeze into the crook of her elbow.

"That smell," Maya said to Misato, "Do you smell that? It's like blood."

"Maya," Misato said, "You're nose is bleeding."

Shocked, Maya wiped her hand across her nose, feeling the warm liquid pool against her knuckles before she turned back to Major Katsuragi. "Major?"

There was blood dripping from Misato's nose as well.

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"Just burst capillaries. No internal damage of any kind. Just a nose bleed. These things happen," Dr. Otsu said.

Fuyustki didn't like it. "At the exact same time?"

The doctor shrugged. "We can keep them here overnight but as you can see they're both perfectly fine, and rather upset at the prospect of having to stay the night in the medical wing."

"Perhaps it had something to do with the breakdown of the Magi system," Hyuga suggested. "The computers do control life support and climate control systems for the whole base."

"And…"

"And I don't know. Maybe it caused the air pressure to slowly rise, so the capillaries burst…"

Fuyutski scowled. "I don't like it."

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Asuka had to admit that it was a nice house. "Nerv must have a lot of extra dough floating around these days," she said as she made her way through the expansive kitchen.

"No," Shinji said. "This used to be my Father's private residence."

Asuka laughed. "The commander huh? No wonder it looks so clean, I don't think the guy ever spent the night away from the command unless he was off traveling for business."

"This place is massive," said Toji as he entered from the living room, "I mean really really massive."

"It's six bedrooms," Asuka said, "And I'll need an extra one for my office."

Toji's jaw dropped. "You have got to be kidding me. If anything we should turn one of the extras into a gym. What do you need an office for anyway?"

"For stuff."

"Like hell."

The sliding glass door into the backyard opened suddenly as Rei Ayanami emerged in a bathing suit. "There's a spa in the back. It's quite…pleasant."

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Maya Ibuki sat at her computer terminal near the Magi system typing furiously into the keypad. "I don't understand…all of this checks out fine."

"Just keep going," Misato said, looking down on Maya's terminal from where she stood behind her, "it must have been something. We can't keep operating knowing that the system is giving off false readings." Misato checked her watch. She and Maya had returned to work immediately after being released from medical observation, which had been hours ago now. She exhaled loudly and rubbed her eyes. It was nearly midnight. "Okay Maya lets take a half an hour break. Get some coffee, sleep, whatever you need, and we'll meet back here. Sound good?"

"Okay."

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Toji Suzuhara was nervous. He hadn't seen Hikari Horaki in such a long time that having her in the house now made him feel ill at ease; he just didn't know quite how to act around her anymore. Things had started off so simply: Asuka had invited Hikari over to see the new house and to eat dinner. He had listened to the two of them share stories about being roommates in Germany, and even Shinji and Rei had seemed to be in good spirits to see an old friend. Or maybe they were just in good spirits to see someone who didn't work for Nerv. Toji however had remained mostly silent throughout the evening. He hadn't been trying to be rude, but when Asuka brought up Hikari's former crush on him his quiet demeanor for the night had suddenly become the focus of the conversation. They had all laughed about the feelings that Hikari had once felt for him, and Toji had done his best to smile along with the group, but somewhere inside of him a flame was still burning. Every minute or so Toji would catch himself staring over at the girl he had known as a child and couldn't help but notice how beautiful she was. He couldn't help but wonder…what if?

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Misato was in the break room drinking an iced coffee when she saw Ryoji Kaji stroll into the room. He was wearing the same wrinkled shirt and loose tie that he always had, his chin still dotted with scruff.

"I must be dreaming," Misato said as she dropped her drink onto the floor.

"Only if I'm still the man of your dreams," he said back.

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Maya Ibuki had fallen asleep at her computer terminal. Or she thought that she must have, because there was no other explanation as to why Ritsuko Akagi could be strolling the halls of Nerv.

"Dr. Akagi? Sempai?"

Ritsuko turned to her former protégé and smiled warmly. "Maya you haven't changed a bit."

"What? I…" Maya stammered. She couldn't understand what was happening, none of it made sense. Dr. Akagi had never returned after third impact. Dr. Akagi was supposed to be dead. Maya's breath came pounding fast and hard out of her lungs as she felt Ritsuko's hand caress the side of her face.

"Maya…still so beautiful, so…innocent. What if I gave you the chance to have me all to yourself? To have all of me, just like you always wanted?"

Buried emotions were rushing through Maya Ibuki like a hurricane. How was this possible? Could love truly bring back the dead? Was this really a second chance? She placed her hand on Ritsuko's hip and slid it slowly upward. She was solid flesh and blood. She was real. And then Maya couldn't take it anymore, she was too overcome, too repressed for too long. She tore Dr. Akagi's glasses away and felt warmth in her mouth as she pressed her lips into those of the woman she had loved for so long.

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Kozo Fuyutski could not believe what he was seeing. He had been pulling an all nighter, going over budgetary reports that had piled up after the last Evangelion operation in South America. Most of the regular staff had gone home at this point, but he knew that Ibuki and Major Katsuragi were still down trying to sort out the Magi system. It was only when he had consulted the security camera for their control room that he realized something was wrong. Fuyutski stared at his computer monitor in awe at the feed from the camera. His eyes were wide as he watched Maya Ibuki and Misato Katsuragi locked together in a passionate kiss.

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Misato Katsuragi could feel the stubble of Kaji's chin scratch against hers as her tongue explored the inside of her mouth and her arms wrapped across his shoulders.

"You can have me always," he said between moments of breath, "Forever and only for you."

"I want to," Misato said, her blood practically racing through her veins. "Please. I want to. Tell me how." She kissed him again, even harder than before, rubbing her body into his.

"You have to come with me my love," he said, "you have to come to the other side."

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Shinji Ikari crept quietly away from the kitchen after consuming a small midnight snack. He was trying to be as silent as possible so as not to disturb Toji and Hikari from where they sat cradled together in the darkened living room. Shinji was still slightly shaken from the nightmare he had woken up from before he had gone to the kitchen. In his dream he had seen his mother deep within the geo-front. She had watched him without words for several moments as he had tried to run to her, but in his dream he couldn't seem to get any closer. After what had seemed like hours Kowaru had appeared and lead his mother into a sea of LCL and then they had both disappeared below the surface as Shinji had screamed for them to wait for him. Then he had woken up bolt upright in bed, drenched in sweat.

Shinji tried to shake the images from his mind as he began to climb the staircase back to the second floor and his bedroom. He was only a few moments into his trek when a sudden noise caused him to shift his gaze to the banister above. It was there that he saw Asuka balanced precariously on the railing of the stairs, a rope in her hand.

"I'm coming mother, I'm coming," Asuka said as she slid the noose around her throat.

Stay tuned for the next exciting chapter of Evangelion: Sins of the Father

**6:Greed:6**

_Author's note: sorry about the major cliffhanger here everyone (this chapter and the next are basically a two-parter). I will try to have chapter 6 written up as quick as I can. _


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